Can I write a poem instead of a story on the platform?

Thank you for reaching out, and yes, absolutely, you can.

After harm, it's common to feel unsure about what space you're allowed to take up. This space is yours, and you don't need permission to use it in whatever way is most helpful for your healing.

Poetry is one of the oldest ways people have made sense of pain. Overwhelming experiences can be hard to put into words. They often live in the body more than in sentences. Poetry makes room for that. It doesn't demand logic or a clear beginning and end. It holds fragments, images, and feelings that don't need to be explained. Many survivors find it reaches something a journal entry or conversation can't.

You don't need to write well or clearly, or make sense to anyone, even yourself. Your poem can be messy, dark, hopeful, contradictory, or unfinished. You can write around the edges of something painful or straight into it. The point isn't the finished product. The point is giving what's inside you somewhere to go.

If you'd like to share what you write here on Our Wave, we'd be honored to read it. Someone else might recognize their own experience in your words, and that sense of not being alone is part of how healing moves through a community. You can also keep it entirely private. A poem that's just for you is just as whole.

We're here, and we're listening. Thank you for being here.